Chapter 2 - THE AMBULANCE THEY TRIED TO STOP
The ambulance arrived eleven minutes later.
By then, Richard Whitmore was standing in the entrance hall wearing a cashmere robe over pressed pajamas.
He looked mildly inconvenienced.
“An ambulance?” he asked. “At this hour?”
Sophie stood beside the staircase.
“Mr. Whitmore needs medical attention.”
Richard looked at Alexander, who had been helped into a safer position by the arriving paramedics.
“My nephew has a chronic neurological condition. His physician handles these episodes.”
One paramedic looked up.
“Sir, we need his medication list.”
Mrs. Fairbanks produced a folder immediately.
Sophie noticed that she had not needed to search for it.
The folder had been waiting.
Richard approached Alexander.
“Alex, let's not make this more dramatic than necessary.”
Alexander's lips moved.
“Hospital.”
Richard stopped.
The word had been faint, but everyone heard it.
The paramedic leaned closer.
“You want to go to the hospital?”
Alexander managed a nod.
“Then that's where we're going.”
Richard's pleasant expression hardened.
“This is unnecessary.”
The paramedic stood.
“Sir, please step aside.”
For the first time since Sophie had entered Ravenswood, she saw someone refuse Richard Whitmore without apologizing.
It was a beautiful sight.
Sophie expected to be dismissed when the ambulance left.
Instead, Alexander caught her sleeve.
“Come.”
She looked at the paramedic.
“Can I?”
“Are you family?”
“No.”
Alexander tried again.
“Please.”
The paramedic considered the situation.
“Hospital policy will determine who can stay, but you can ride if we have room.”
Richard intervened.
“Absolutely not.”
Alexander turned his head.
His eyes were exhausted.
But his voice was suddenly clear.
“She comes.”
At St. Catherine's Medical Center, Alexander was evaluated by an emergency physician named Dr. Lena Ortiz.
Sophie gave the medical team an account of what she had observed.
She explained the tremor, the loss of sensation, the breathing difficulty, and the irregular pulse she had felt.
Dr. Ortiz listened carefully.
“Are you a nurse?”
Sophie shook her head.
“I completed two years of nursing school.”
“Why did you stop?”
“My mother got sick.”
The doctor nodded.
“You did the right thing calling emergency services.”
Sophie felt something inside her loosen.
She hadn't heard those words in a long time.
Alexander underwent urgent testing.
The medical team found abnormalities that required further investigation, including evidence of a potentially dangerous heart rhythm disturbance and signs of a broader neurological problem.
Dr. Ortiz explained that several conditions could cause overlapping symptoms.
Medication effects.
Metabolic disorders.
Toxic exposures.
Neurological disease.
Nothing could be assumed yet.
Alexander listened from the hospital bed.
Then asked the question that made Sophie stop breathing.
“Could someone be making me sick?”
The doctor did not dismiss him.
“It's one possibility we need to investigate. What makes you ask?”
Alexander stared at the ceiling.
“My symptoms are worse at home.”
Richard arrived before dawn.
He carried a leather briefcase and an expression of carefully managed concern.
“I'd like to speak with the attending physician.”
Dr. Ortiz introduced herself.
Richard handed her a business card.
“I'm Alexander's uncle and the person who has been overseeing his medical affairs.”
Alexander opened his eyes.
“No.”
Richard turned.
“Alex?”
Alexander swallowed.
“You don't speak for me.”
Silence filled the room.
Richard smiled.
“Of course. You're exhausted.”
Alexander looked at Dr. Ortiz.
“I want him removed.”
The doctor nodded.
“That's your decision.”
Richard stared at his nephew.
For the first time, the warmth vanished completely from his face.
Then he looked at Sophie.
“You have no idea what you've started.”
She felt cold.
But Alexander spoke before she could answer.
“Neither do you, Richard.”
Later that morning, a nurse brought Sophie coffee.
She was sitting outside Alexander's room when a hospital administrator approached.
“Miss Marchetti?”
“Yes?”
“Someone has asked us to confirm whether you accompanied Mr. Whitmore here.”
“Who?”
The administrator hesitated.
“A representative of Whitmore Holdings.”
Sophie frowned.
“Why?”
“He claimed you had stolen property from Ravenswood.”
Her stomach dropped.
“What property?”
“A silver medication case.”
Sophie stared at him.
She had never seen such a case.
Then she remembered Alexander's scarred wrist.
The mysterious medicine.
The forbidden west wing.
May you like
And the man asking whether something was finished.
Someone had already begun trying to discredit her.
